High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail.Voting has ended in Indonesia’s crucial legislative elections, with the Indonesian Democratic-Struggle Party (PDI-P) of presidential frontrunner Joko Widodo expected to come out on top.
Having risen from obscurity since being elected as Jakarta governor in 2012, Mr Widodo’s nomination by the PDI-P in March has propelled the opposition party into first place in opinion polls as Indonesia faces a crucial transition of power.
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“I’m very confident my party will do well,” Mr Widodo, who is known by his nickname Jokowi, told reporters on Wednesday morning after voting. “We will have a big majority.”
Polling stations in the world’s third-biggest democracy closed at 1pm local time, with vote counting starting immediately afterwards.
Although it will take one month to collate the official results in this nation of 186m voters and thousands of islands, survey agencies are planning to release “quick counts” by 3pm based on a sample of the country’s 550,000 polling stations.
In previous elections these quick counts, which differ from exit polls because they are based on votes cast rather than surveys of who people backed, have proven accurate at predicting the final outcome.
Party officials say the horse-trading over possible coalitions will begin not long after these initial results are released, although nothing can be confirmed until the election commission releases the final tally in May.
With President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stepping down in October after reaching the legal two-term limit, Indonesians are choosing a new House of Representatives (DPR) and leader.
The election for Indonesia’s 560-member DPR takes place every five years and determines which parties can nominate candidates for July’s presidential election. To do so, parties must meet a threshold of 25 per cent of the vote or 20 per cent of the seats.
Although he has said little about his policy plans, Mr Widodo, 52, has won the admiration of many because of his results-orientated approach and his humble background, which contrasts with his main presidential rivals, former general Prabowo Subianto and tycoon Aburizal Bakrie...
Source: Hindi News
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